A Torah once belonging to Adolf Hitler has survived 130 years and some of the worst times in Jewish history.
Now all it had to do was make it one mile without being dropped. Piece of cake.
The Torah will now be housed at Congregation Ahavat Olam, which received the holy scroll on Friday. It was a four year journey for the sacred artifact from a London repository, but the last leg pales in comparison to what it originally was destined for.
Hitler confiscated the Torah and kept it in pristine condition with the goal of later displaying it in a museum dedicated to the obliteration of European Jewry. The writings had an inscription date of 1878 and while Hitler loathed what it stood for, he wanted to use it as a symbol of his conquest.
Thankfully, that day never came.
Now the Torah is a symbol of perseverance and hope, especially for some survivors of the Holocaust and World War II veterans who were expected to attend the precession Friday.
Ahavat Olam's leader, Rabbi Danny Marmorstein, will read from the book as part of the marking of the Jewish New Year next month.
